For the last ten years we've been updating the world about jazz in the north east of England and updating the north east of England about jazz in the world.
WINNER of the Jazz Media Category in the 2018 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Joey Calderazzo: "Playing the standard repertoire is a pretty good barometer of where one is as a jazz musician" - (DownBeat January 2019).

To be truthful, I came to this, the closing gig of the festival, partly as a show of support for organiser Wes Stephenson who has done such a magnificent job of organising the multi-venue/multi-genre event and partly to check out Joe McPhee who, at the start of the festival, had created such a buzz and yet was only second banana in the billing at The Bridge.

Jazz, as in most art forms, is forever pursuing new directions. That quest for change invariably wins a few and loses a few. Last night's sell-out concert by sheer force of numbers came down on the side of the forward-looking element.

I arrived convinced I was going to hate it. But in music, as in life, hate can turn to love and vice-versa.

McPhee looked every inch the archetypal jazzman: pork pie hat, black shirt, black trousers and tenor saxophone at the ready, or so we thought. The only oddment being the red shoes.

No, that wasn't the only oddment, the other was the white trumpet with which he started off the opening piece.

The sound that emerged bore no resemblance to any trumpet sounds I'd ever heard - it was almost as if he was blowing the instrument without a mouthpiece or maybe the mouthpiece without an instrument.

Strange - but not as strange as the noises that erupted when he switched to tenor. It took my ears a while to absorb what was going on. The instrument looked like a tenor saxophone but the wild harmonics, the chords - yes, chords on a saxophone - made the excesses of the latterday Coltrane or Albert Ayler sound like Bud Freeman!

Then it happened! Damascus appeared on the horizon!

Have you ever dated a plain Jane or a boring Basil and looked for an excuse to make an early exit? Everyone has but, sometimes you find those protruding teeth suddenly seem to enhance his/her smile, fat becomes pleasingly plump and, before you know it, you're holding hands at midnight...

Such was the case, metaphorically speaking, at this gig. About quarter of an hour into the first number I stopped thinking saxophone and concentrated, instead, on sound. Sound and excitement were what this was all about. Propelled through the unchartered waters by Corsano and an array of 'objects' that I couldn't see but heard clearly, McPhee took me with him - me and 99 others - on a journey to another world where unconventional is conventional, odd is even and even is odd.

This was tremendous stuff and I wanted more which is the sign of a good anything - always leave them asking for more...

I didn't hang around for the headliners, I didn't want anything to erase the memory of what had gone before.Photos.

Lance.

PS: Next year's festival will be held on the first weekend in October.

About this blog - contact details.

Bebop Spoken Here -- Here, being the north-east of England -- centred in the blues heartland of Newcastle and reaching down to the Tees Delta and looking upwards to the Land of the Kilt.Not a very original title, I know; not even an accurate one as my taste, whilst centred around the music of Bird and Diz, extends in many directions and I listen to everything from King Oliver to Chick Corea and beyond. Not forgetting the Great American Songbook the contents of which has provided the inspiration for much great jazz and quality popular singing for round about a century.The idea of this blog is for you to share your thoughts and pass on your comments on discs, gigs, jazz - music in general. If you've been to a gig/concert or heard a CD that knocked you sideways please share your views with us. Tell us about your favourites, your memories, your dislikes.Lance (Who wishes it to be known that he is not responsible for postings other than his own and that he's not always responsible for them.)

Facebook Badge

Subscribe!

Submissions for review

Whilst we appreciate the many emails, texts, messages and other communications we receive requesting album/gig reviews on BSH, regrettably, we are unable to reply to all of them other than those we are able to answer with a positive response.

Similarly, CDs received by post will only be considered if accompanied by sufficient background material.

Finally, bear in mind that this is a jazz-based site when submitting your album.